Have you ever been asked “what do you do here? It’s an intriguing question, isn’t it? This is actually a line taken from a movie that I once saw while traveling across the country called “Office Space”. It’s actually not a bad movie; if you have some idle time, it is worth watching – in fact some would say it is a cult classic, although I am not sure about that.
The movie sort of provides a warped look into the corporate world, and in some cases one that isn’t so far off from reality.
In one scene (check it out below) John McGinley is trying to figure out what one of the company employees (Richard Riehle) does each day. The explanation is hilarious, and if I am a betting man, I would bet you have likely come across something similar where you work, which is why it is so darn funny.
So what do you do here? It’s an important question we should all ask ourselves, because if you don’t know what you do, then who does. And if you don’t know, who holds the key to your future, your destiny?
From my earliest days as a child, I was always doing something to earn a buck whether it was searching for soda bottles to turn in at the local 7-Eleven or mowing the neighbor’s lawn. As I got older, I certainly could have taken a summer job that paid a few dollars like most of my friends, but instead I opted to start my own lawn business with my brother. It forced me to become a salesman, marketer, laborer, and banker all at once. The money was sweet – I always had more cash flow than anyone else and a fairly robust bank account as early as junior high school. And there were many more examples like this all the way through my college years.
I was a doer…
I didn’t wait for someone else to do it for me, ever. I adhered to the old saying “if I don’t do it myself, nobody else will.” And I could always answer the questions “what do you do here?”
Are you a DOER or are you waiting around for someone to “make it happen” for you? If the former, you’ll find your way to success, although it won’t always be an easy ride. If the latter applies to you, sadly you will likely succeed at very little. Wherever you are working now, you likely work with some very smart people who are beneficial to the organization’s overall growth; the key to ultimate achievement however is not up to them, it’s you! The right partner can help along the way, but it is you who holds the key to your ultimate destiny.
In the end, you never want someone to ask, “What would you say you do here?”
Joe Bouch
CEO, 78Madison
78Madison is a Central Florida based advertising agency – marketing communications firm – located in Orlando/Winter Springs Florida. Let’s start a conversation. Let’s do something original.